I found a 171g DX Cheetah in the woods today and had a lot of fun with it. When thrown with a little bit of hyzer, it went dead straight or a little to the right with almost no fade.

But: in general, I don't like DX discs; unlike the disc golf gurus on this board, I don't want to carry multiple copies of a disc in various states of wear, and I'd rather have something that won't change dramatically after whacking a few trees.

So, my question is: what would be a more durable disc (in Champion, Star, Z, etc.) that would be, right out of the box, similar to a DX Cheetah, in both flight and feel? (I like the shape of the Cheetah in my hand.) Maybe a Leopard? A Cyclone? XL? TL? JLS? Too many discs... help!

Champ leapord would be your best bet. it will flip fairly easily once beat (yes champ plastic does beat up slowly ) Z XL is another good choice, but is faster. If you get a Z XL get a 168 or so and it will flip up fairly easily.

I do have an old 150g CE Leopard -- my first driver, from years ago -- but it seems much "flippier" than this Cheetah I was playing with today. It always goes right, never straight, when thrown hard. Is that just because the Leopard is lighter or because the CE discs were a little different?

I recently got a star leopard and I really like it. Its taking quite a while to beat it in but thats what I wanted. It also has better grip than ce and isnt as hard to see as transparent ce. As for the 150 I think your right that it would be easier to flip than a heavier. I have a 150 dx leopard and it is extremely easy to turn compared to any other leopard I have thrown.

its probably because the weight and condition of the disc. Try the leapord and if you dont like it step up to a Z XL, the Z XL was the second driver I was confident backhanding (I learned w/ a DX leapord)

If you want to do an interesting analysis, total up how much you spent on high end plastic searching for a disc that flies like a DX Cheetah and see how many DX Cheetahs you could have bought with that money.

Anyway I second the motion for the Z XL. A while back my buddy picked one up in 167g. I took a few tosses with it the first day and decided to steal it out of his bag for the next 2 months. It is just so easy to manipulate it into a beautiful flight path. After I gave it back I bugged my friend until he started using it as his main driver and his tosses have been looking better and better as a result..

I would (as I have done to others) recommend that you get a Z XS to fit this slot. Great disc, a little faster than a Cheetah, but a similar flight path from my experience with the Cheetah (not a whole lot...) It's an awesome disc that you will be able to use for a long time.

So, of these discs that have been tossed out as possibilities (Gazelle, Leopard, XL, XS, Xpress), which is going to have the least leftward fade at the end? According to "Joe's Flight Chart," it seems like the Leopard; is that accurate?

its understable , Generally fade makes a disc more predictable. I suppose more forgiving is a better way to put it. If youre looking for a control driver you can throw sucessfully, but still have room to grow. My favorite choice is the Z XL (probably my favorite not overstable Z/Champ disc) The XL is a true control driver, while the Leopard is an understable driver. I think a champ/star (havent thrown star but assume it will fly very similar to champ) leopard will fly most like a Newer DX Cheatta, but I think the XL (167g-170g) would be a better driver for the slot youre trying to fill.
Either option will fade alittle more than the Cheatta because thats a property of Z/Champ plastic is less air friction means more/sooner fade.

I'm hesitant about the XL because it seems like a much faster/longer disc than the Cheetah or Leopard; I'm looking for something for those narrow forest shots where distance doesn't matter as much as accuracy, and I wouldn't be throwing at 100% power.